The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-08-06

old time "sweep mill" for grinding corn,
probably the hrst IN all Northern illinois.
These mills were quite simple In siucture.
Of Nh upper and q lowe mill
stone. l,boriously Clipped by handout Of
the granite houlders Of the prairie,r the
neighboring creek, upon q raised platform,
the lover stone stationary, the upperfree
attached TO it above WAS an upright pct or
cy linder, small IN the centre, around 'hich
n rope or bel, Of rawhide was twice passed,
the olher end around . drum on = revolving
post, attached to q sweep, to which q lorse
Or Q span Of them, or even an OK, was
htched. This WAS the power, and each
revolution Of the beast Of burden sDund
the central post would cause ss many turns
Of the upper milestone upon its axis As the
propelling drum exceeded in size tie post
which moved the upper stone. SOmtimes
when iron gearing could be had, especially
later on in pioneer history, it took tb place
of raw hide ropes, whereby Q much greater
degree of speed was Obtained and proper
tionalely faster the grisls were ground.
Here our newly married couple established
themselves, and have gone on from year TO
year enlarging their possessions util they
have become among the wealthie, Of La
Sale county numerous population Of rich
farmers; and here we leave then for a
while, to 60 and gather up anecdots AID in
cidents that naturally came into ,hir histo-
ry, yet, strictly speaking, not connected with
il more than rs mere side issues
Pat CUNNINGHAM's SPREE
In October, 1881, a rollicking rishman,
C,nniuuha,n No
Prairie, IN Putnam county. lie hiped Mr..
Armstrong to build the Let's cabinprevious.
ly mentioned, and was generally useful to
al the early settlers Of that regia Pats
weakness was principally fondnss for a
"drop of the craylhur' He had ,elped a
sou in law of Mr. Clark Hollenbacho meve
from Sandy Creek to Hollenbsch' Grove,
and was returning on pony buck. At the
mouth OF Fox River, where Ottawa now, .
man named Geo. Campbell kept 'gocery.'
Pat had been minus "grog' for several
days and on arriving here diversified himself
in filling up Mounting his ny in
rather limp condition, he started owaros
Magnolia He had passed the moutfof Co.
vel Creek and reached ravine near he old
Brown farm. Here tired nature asserted
her rights and Pat fell off, in deep lleep.
His pony came back to the next buse.
Some boys, who were weakened so feafully
by long and obstinate siege of que.
that they could hardly stand, went for'srd
to learn what had happened to Pat. Ness
lads-Wash, Bill and, perhaps, Joel nm
strong, found the uniucky gentleman finn
Erin IN dangerous preiicament. His boy
was lying by the side Of the creek, with he
head in the edge of the water, aud he wa
badly stunned, in fact insensible, not sc
much from what he had imbbed as from HE
fall. The boys were unable to move him !;
so one rem aimed to watch him and get help,
if any one should come along, while the 9th
ers returned, and one Of them, by the help
of his companions, mounted horse and
rode back to Campbell's, where he found
Mr.. McKerns, who took the lads horse, re-
turned and extrica,ed Pat from his perilOas
fix. He was taken to the house, 10 or Il
rods away, and cared for. He remained in
sensible several hours and WAS confined 70
his bed several days. When he had sud-
GENTLY recovered to be moved, John S. Arm
strong saddled gentle mare, placed Pat en-
her back and mounting the pony himself.
thus escorted the invalid 10 Holderman .
Grove.
INDIAN HUMoR.
Mr.. A. remained at the Grove over night.
Next morning the pony was missing. AT
the mission" and all around that region in
those days there were numerous Indians
and the noble red man, no matter how sound
his morals on all other subjects, is apt to be
on the subject of horsehesh.
Besides, some Of the frisky young aborigInes
had been taught by Elder Walker the pre-
cepls of the christian religion and the
ten commandments, those beautiful regula.
tons which Moses IN his anger smashed in
to .smi;hereens," an example which others
have been rather prone to follow ever since.
Among these, the order, "Thou shalt not
steal, the Indians always construed as not
applying to horses. or, in fact, any thing that
thew could conveniently "get away with.
1t is the experience Of all who know much
of Indian character and history that If ever
they were honest or moral in any degree, 1t
was when they had never known white PEG
ole. Most efforts to christianize Them have
failed. They readily learn the vices of the
whites, and get enlightened, too, chiefly lin
ways that are dark" The pony in question
had been borrowed from Mr.. Hazleton,
white man; who then lived at the Mission.
With slight hope Of finding the lost animal
Mr.. A. went to that village. There he found
, Frenchman named BulbOnais, who kept
The store or grocery He was fine spesl-
men of n Canadian trapper and ADVENTURE.
lie was powerful man, physically, thor
ough Indian by adoption, having lived among
them for years, and was married to squaW.
they had son, aged then 10 or II years,
who bore the pompous name OF George
Washington Bulbonais 4! There were q mum
Der of Indians about, in various stages Of In
%: i ltion, from the slightly elevated to the
helpless, snoring, PROSTATE snoo.er on the
,rsss. Mr.. A. was delighted to learn that
he pony had come home; but on returning
rom the cabin found his own mare gone
IF course he knew some Indian had stolen
her. Boiling over with wrath, ne demanded
O know who the thief was and which way
ne went A redskin, who seemed too drunk
% walk or talk, pointed the direction Mr.
A borro we'd q couple Of horses from Mr.
Hazleton, put young Washington on one ana
himself on the other, and started in pursuit
rbev rode for hours, following the trail 10
he old town of Somonauk, where there WAS
. large encampment Of Indians. 1t appears
hat when the horse thief reached that place
md exhibited his prize, as Mr.. A. Afterwards
earned. the chief Of that village promptly
commanded the abductor Of the mare and
ordered him to return her at once. This ne
,,a.r,ooL "a do When nearing the timber